Margolyes & Dickens: The Best Bits review – the nation’s favourite foul mouth

There’s more Margolyes than Dickens here, but her gift for florid characters is on fine display and suits the Victorian master perfectly

Ugly Sisters review – deft duo riff on Germaine Greer’s encounter with a trans woman

Charli Cowgill and Laurie Ward revisit an article by the author of The Female Eunuch in this thought-provoking hour

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut review – 1970s Roman empire sex shocker returns to the source

Without the extra sex that made writer Gore Vidal want his credit removed, Tinto Brass’s epic of imperial eroticism showcases a powerhouse Malcolm McDowell

The Outrun review – ambitious staging of Amy Liptrot’s Orkney addiction memoir

Vicky Featherstone’s directing and Isis Hainsworth’s fine lead turn valiantly blur the wild and the urban to portray the writer’s introspective journey to sobriety

The Years review – Annie Ernaux’s faint-inducing masterpiece roars into devastating life

Eline Arbo’s profound but playful adaptation celebrates the multitudes contained within a single life, as big history is embodied by womanhood – including Romola Garai’s shatteringly raw abortion scene

‘My poor kid has been haunted by it’: Harry Potter and the reviewer that mattered most

Jack Thorne’s baby son was a key influence on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. So it was a big day when he was old enough to see it with the playwright for the first time

Irish author Edna O’Brien dies aged 93

After early novels that won international acclaim but were banned at home, the Irish author had a prolific career lasting more than half a century

Alice in Wonderland review – down the rabbit hole and into the woods

Led by the White Rabbit, this groovy promenade show follows a determined Alice’s journey to the city’s Ashton Memorial

Emerging playwright schemes should include over 40s, say UK theatre figures

Ageism standing in way of older writers breaking into the industry, playwrights claim

A Netflix film, statue and a newly discovered first edition: joy at celebrations of Aphra Behn

As the career of the pioneering writer is remembered, an 1688 copy of her novel Oroonoko is the cherry on the cake

Little Women review – where’s the magic in this musical adaptation?

The acting is generous and the tale is timeless – but many production details feel bafflingly bare, at odds with the story’s warmth

The Paddington Bear Experience review – the Marmalade Day jamboree must go on!

Visitors get stuck in when they enter the world of 32 Windsor Gardens, thanks to a merry immersive show boasting hands-on games and evocative design touches

‘Each time I read one of her books, I wanted to read more’: five actors on bringing Annie Ernaux’s memoir to the stage

As a play of the Nobel prize-winner’s memoir The Years opens in the UK, the actors playing her at different ages – including Deborah Findlay, Gina McKee and Romola Garai – talk about what the work means to them

On my radar: Cressida Cowell’s cultural highlights

The How To Train Your Dragon author on the most beautiful place on Earth, an epic nature-themed fantasy and the tantalising prospect of a new Jilly Cooper TV adaptation

David Sedaris is an icon of indignation in a world that keeps on irking

The American humorist delighted the Royal Festival Hall with characteristically disgruntled slices of life – including a brush with cancel culture